Swedes Sweep Grand Prix Utrecht!

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Over 2,000 players descended on Utrecht in the Netherlands to play Gatecrash team limited, but of all the contingents of players that rocked up for team sealed and team draft, it was the Swedish contingent that most completely dominated the field as team on team competition whittled us down to an all Swedish finals.

Joel Larsson was chasing Pro Points wherever he could after a second place finish at Pro Tour Gatecrash, and teamed up with Elias Watsfeldt and Mikael Magnusson to do so. Throughout the Swiss portion of the competition, they received only two losses in total – to another all Swedish team of Jonathan Bergstrom, Tomas Westling and Fredrik Carlsson. That set up for an epic final where the two teams (being supervised by a Swedish judge and various Swedish fans) witnessed a tour de force from both teams.

It seemed that Bergstrom, Westling and Carlsson had the measure of their countrymen, powering through in successive rounds to take home the trophies as Grand Prix Utrecht champions!

It has been quite the weekend here in the Netherlands, and we hope that you've enjoyed watching along as much as we've enjoyed bringing you the stories from Gatecrash team limited. We hope that you'll join us again soon for the climax to the online season, with the Magic Online Championship Series finals, from PAX East.

Sunday, 8:45 p.m. – Drafting with Joel Larsson

by Tim Willoughby

Joel Larsson has had a fairly consistent run of form throughout this weekend (typically winning hence his position in the top four). One thing I've learned while watching his play is that he is something of a fan of blue and green. As such it wasn't a colossal surprise to see that in his semi-final draft, he sifted Cloudfin Raptor to the front of his first pack. One of the premium cards in Simic, it was the card he described as the most important in his sealed deck from Saturday, so he was clearly happy to be playing with it again. Undercity Informer, Assault Griffin and Arrows of Justice would be going to his left, hopefully ensuring that he was able to keep people off his colours, and draft a strong deck.

Crocanura came next, and a Zameck Guildmage third. Seeing the guildmage was a nice signal to Larsson that Mikael Magnusson, two seats to his right, was likely not going with Simic either. There was a good chance that he had plenty of space to draft his chosen guild. While a 4th pick Simic Guildgate was hardly exciting, getting a Frilled Oculus next, along with Armored Transport. Totally Lost came around on the lap, and while the rest of the pack didn't have too much for him, Larsson seemed in a fine position going into pack two.

Going into pack three, Larsson's curve was dangerous and lean. He had much of what he needed, but was lacking a couple of cards to ensure his evolve curve would always be firing. This soon changed as Crocanura came for him as a first pick in pack three, and when he finally got a Shambleshark to add to his deck just one pick later. Shambleshark is potentially a very important card for the aggressive Simic decks, as it is the creature that can attack for three on turn three for the deck – an important addition indeed. A second Shambleshark came fifth for Larsson, who even had the luxury of taking some sideboard cards along the way. A Tower Defence would potentially make aggressive matchups easier, and a 9th pick Leyline Phantom would, if necessary, amp up his evolution plans.

All told, Larsson's deck looked to be something of a powerhouse for the semi-finals. He'd only have one match to play with it, and if his opponent's deck was remotely slow (a distinct possibility given a large number of quality Orzhov cards he'd passed) he could potentially maul it badly before it could get going.

Sunday, 9:25 p.m. – Team Draft Chart: All the Players, All the Picks!

by Tobi Henke

Take a look at the following table. The vertical columns have all picks by the player listed at the very top, one after the other. You'll also notice different shades of grey moving in a weird way through the picks, first descending to the left, then right, then left again. As you might guess, the same shade of grey here denotes cards taken from the same booster pack. That's to help you see what choices the player faced when he made a particular pick. By going along the diagonal line of same-colored boxes downwards, you can see what cards were left in the booster at any point in the draft.

Top 4 – Teams

Jonathan Bergström

Previous Magic accomplishments: One Grand Prix Top 8, six Nationals Top 8s.

Who are your teammates, and why did you play with them? We are old friends who always have good times together.

What color combination did you play in Sealed, and what was your most important card? Orzhov - Obzedat, Ghost Council won me the most games.

What color combination(s) did you play in your drafts, and what were your most important cards? Orzhov - Obzedat unsurprisingly won me the most games.Gruul - Bomber Corps killed a few dudes. Orzhov - splashed a Cinder Elemental which was nice.

Tomas Westling

Age: 34 Hometown: Malmö, Sweden Occupation: Software developer

Guild: Simic

Previous Magic accomplishments: Top 2 Svenska Magic-Mästerskapet.

Who are your teammates, and why did you play with them? Jonathan Bergström and Fredrik Carlsson, close friends and previous roommates, part of the same team, Team Habo.

What color combination did you play in Sealed, and what was your most important card? Dimir, Sage's Row Denizen.

What color combination(s) did you play in your drafts, and what were your most important cards? Orzhov, Merciless Eviction.Four-color mono five-drops, Orzhov Keyrune. Esper Hold the Gates, Hold the Gates.

Samuele Estratti

Who are your teammates, and why did you play with them? Lippi and Versari. Really funny playing with them.

What color combination did you play in Sealed, and what was your most important card? Simic splash red, Skarrg Goliath.

What color combination(s) did you play in your drafts, and what were your most important cards? Gruul, Ghor Clan Rampager. Gruul splash blue, Ghor-Clan Rampager.

Joel Larsson

Age: 21 Hometown: Stockholm, Sweden Occupation: Administrator and receptionist at a small clinic

Guild: Simic

Previous Magic accomplishments: Second at Pro Tour Montreal, third at Grand Prix Manchester, Top 8 at Grand Prix Prague and Pittsburgh, tenth at Pro Tour Nagoya, Swedish national team 2011.

Who are your teammates, and why did you play with them? Mikael Magnusson and Elias Watsfeldt. Good friends and good players.

What color combination did you play in Sealed, and what was your most important card? Simic, Cloudfin Raptor.

What color combination(s) did you play in your drafts, and what were your most important cards? Simic - Cloudfin Raptors.Orzhov - various extort guys. Boros - Skyknight Legionnaire and lots of two-drops.

Mikael Magnusson

Who are your teammates, and why did you play with them? Joel Larsson and Elias Watsfeldt. I just picked the best two Swedish players.

What color combination did you play in Sealed, and what was your most important card? Boros - Aurelia, the Warleader.

What color combination(s) did you play in your drafts, and what were your most important cards? Boros - Aurelia again!Boros - the three Madcap Skills!Orzhov splashing Hands of Binding - Undercity Plague.

Gruul against Dimir was the first matchup, and Watsfeldt's aggressive Gruul deck was able to win game one before most of the other decks at the table had even begun to set up. His second game looked likely to go in similar fashion, with Foundry Street Denizens soon joined by a pair of copies of Ember Beast. Meanwhile the Dimir deck of Martin Zimmermann had found some way of racing, with Keymaster Rogue an ever-present clock on Watsfeldt. Gridlock stopped attacks from Watsfeldt for a turn, and that was enough to sour the race for the young Swede. Swing after swing from the rogue took Watsfeldt to six, and then three. One draw step left – could he find the removal spell he needed to stave off the unblockable 3/2? The answer came soon enough, as Watsfeldt scooped up his cards.

Game three looked pretty good for Watsfeldt. Zimmermann missed a land drop, while he was able to deploy a terrifying force featuring a pair of copies of Ember Beast, Legion Loyalist and Skarrg Guildmage. The Gruul team only had Metropolis Sprite and eventually Undercity Informer to deal with this aggressive start, and they simply could not do so. In the amount of time it had taken the other players in his team to get through one game, Watsfeldt had won his match 2-1

Larsson had drafted a very aggressive Simic deck and found himself up against Boros from Rene Kraft. Given the potential speed of the matchup, neither player could afford to stumble, and Larsson's start was near textbook; Cloudfin Raptor, Frilled Oculus, Crocanura. Kraft had a pair of Syndic of Tithes to begin, but when Hands of Binding came down for Larsson he was able to effectively put together quite the start.

Kraft was far from out of it though. He knew he wouldn't be facing much in the way of removal, and pieced together a board of Wojek Halbardiers, Sunhome Guildmage and Warmind Infantry too. Towering Thunderfist was next. He had plenty of creatures, but could he deal with Larsson's flyers?

Sunhome Guildmage built up quite a force and it looked like an attack in could only mean disaster for Larsson. He made desperation blocks, where it seemed his team was inevitably to be consigned to the graveyard. It turned out that the tricky Swede had a tricky Swedish trick though, in the form of Tower Defence. In the face of all those creatures surviving, and being able to attack back for the win, Kraft simply scooped up his cards.

Game two was more of the same from Larsson. He had Cloudfin Raptor, Frilled Oculus, Crocanura and friends, but this time the draw from the Boros deck looked if anything a little more aggressive. Larsson was forced into blocking mode a little sooner, with rather more lands in play than might have been ideal for him. Sunhome Guildmage from Kraft was a clear and present threat, and soon Larsson was at just 7, to his opponent's 13 life. Hands of Binding bought him a little time, but with the Boros side of the board growing thanks to Boros Guildmage, it looked to be a race that Joel was still not winning.

Kraft swung for the fences, and for a second time found a big Tower Defence block brick-walling his attack. After combat he used Act of Treason to untap a blocker, suddenly looking to his life total with concern. Larsson cast an Adaptive Snapjaw, reaching for dice. He had a bunch of creatures to evolve, and an Ivy Lane Denizen from the turn before to add a counter too. From nowhere, the evolution team on Larsson's side of the board was massive. Before he'd even finished turning them all sideways, the German team were extending their hands, congratulating the Swedes who would be playing their countrymen in the finals.

Finals – Round 1

by Tim Willoughby

Clearly, with a final that was entirely in Swedish, this reporter was unable to fully understand all the nuances going on with the laughing and joking between these two teams. As a handy shortcut, I kind of assumed that a large amount of any banter was about some combination of Joel Larsson's hair, Mikael Magnusson's lack of hair, and Watsfeldt being a wunderkind like Dougie Howser or the kid from the Star Wars movies. One way or another, while this match was as high stakes as a match could be at this Grand Prix, the tone was a relaxed one. Just one more draft to win. When they'd met earlier in the day, it was the less well known team of Jonathan Bergstrom, Fredrik Carlsson and Tomas Westling that won out. Would the same be true the second time around?

Joel Larsson vs. Tomas Westling

Larsson found himself with Simic against Gruul, and it was an aggressive Gruul deck at that. Westling had a Legion Loyalist, a Hellraiser Goblin and an Ivy Lane Denizen in the red zone in short order. Larsson back pedalled where he could with Crocanuras to block, but had little answer to such a brutally fast start from the Gruul deck. In little time at all, Larsson was scooping up his game one cards.

Hellraiser Goblin was back though, and a Madcap Skills on Skinbrand Goblin suddenly meant that Larsson had a race on his hands. Nimbus Swimmer came down as a 4/4 that could happily do some big blocks, and Larsson's Millennial Gargoyle continued to bash. The tough thing for Larsson though wasn't so much Hellraiser Goblin, as all of the friends that came along with him. Westling may not have started as strongly for the second game, but with massive green monsters, he finished strong, quickly putting down Larsson for a second successive game.

Elias Watsfeldt vs. Jonathan Bergstrom

Watsfeldt started off with a Cloudfin Raptor, but was really an Esper deck rather than Simic, with a Dimir Guildgate and an Orzohov Keyrune to follow up. For his first match, he had a mirror of sorts, as there were guildgates aplenty from Bergstrom too, and a Sage's Row Denizen.

Game two was pretty back and forth between Watsfeldt and Bergstrom, with neither really committing substantial threats to the board and being able to get them to stick. Leyline Phantom died to Grisly Spectacle, leaving Bergstrom without much of a board, while Dimir Charm killed off Metropolis Sprite for Watsfeldt. Horror of the Dim for Watsfeldt looked like a trump in this removal heavy fight, being able to gain hexproof at a moment's notice. All Bergstrom had to fight back was Simic Fluxmage, which could not really compete.

Watsfeldt sat back, not needing to cast more spells, and holding up mana to threaten all sorts of tricks. Soon Bergstrom was on just five life from his attacks, and his draws seemed more clogged by land than anything else, meaning he could never quite stabilise.

Game three saw Watsfeldt able to get a big threat on the board early in the form of Alms Beast. He wasn't about to recklessly start attacking with it though, sitting back with mana up to potentially keep it safe. This changed when he found a Gift of Orzhova to make Alms Beast a 7/7 flying lifelinker. He swung in unimpeded, making life more than a little tough for Bergstrom. When Bergstrom held back a blocker for the 7/7, Watsfeldt simply declined to attack, just casting Cloudfin Raptor.

An Orzhov Charm on a 7/7 Alms Beast is worth a lot of life, but Watsfeldt preferred to keep his creature around, playing a Psychic Strike to keep it safe from harm. The next turn Grisly Spectacle killed off the Balustrade Spy that might have blocked, and Watsfeldt was again in the red zone. The life totals were 6 to 32 in Watsfeldt's favour, and soon enough Bergstrom was scooping them up. The match would be down to Magnusson.

Magnusson didn't seem in a hurry to attack with his soldier tokens, and soon had Assemble the Legion on three counters, with all six of his soldiers still around. A Court Street Denizen would ensure that Carlsson would have little in the way of blockers at any point, with the never ending stream of creatures he'd be producing.

Once Magnusson had ten soldiers he started attacking. That was plenty enough for Carlsson, who packed it in for the next game.

Zarichi Tiger from Carlsson would stave off any aggression from Magnusson, but Urbis Protector from him threatened more of a clock than the tiger alone could redress. Soon thereafter he had Homing Lightning to kill off the kitty, though he had little he could do about an Urbis Protector on the other side of the board. While Magnusson was able to get something going briefly with Madcap Skills, Debtor's Pulpit presented a problem that meant he was losing the Urbis Protector race. He defended for as long as he could, but could not ultimately answer the angel. This match would go to a deciding game.

With the ground getting a little busy, Magnusson continued his air assault with Assault Griffin, the creature named for the task. He took swings from Carlsson to go to 12, and came right back with his Battalion, trading Bomber Corps for a fresh Viskopa Guildmage that blocked. It was a straight forward race, until the Orzhov started getting tricky with extort. Thrull Parasite came first, then extorted when Wight of Precinct Six came along as a 2/2. Magnusson, after a little pause, decided to hold back on attacking further.

The reason for this soon became clear. When Carlsson attacked in, Magnusson was able to secure a very tidy set of blocks, with Boros Charm keeping his team alive while much of Carlsson's perished. Carlsson didn't seem to mind. Urbis Protector gave him the biggest creature on the board, and Vizkopa Confessor revealed that all that Magnusson had left in his hand was land. Carlsson rumbled in with his squad.

Magnusson needed something big to get back in the game, and drew the top card of his deck very carefully. He very slowly peeked at the card, willing it to be an answer to his opponent's potentially game winning board. It was a land though, flung down in mock disgust. If Watsfeldt, Larsson and Magnusson were to win Grand Prix Utrecht, they would have to take both the next sets of games.

After the perfunctory exchanges early on, the third game came down to a war of resources and their attrition. Larsson hung in there surprisingly long and managed to, for example, hit One Thousand Lashes with Scatter Arc. But in the end, nothing could compare to the (virtual) card advantage generated by Bergström's Bane Alley Broker.

Jonathan Bergström

Close to the end, with a full board on both sides, Larsson's Gridlock would have nearly stole a victory there, but Bergström's Grisly Spectacle sealed the deal.

Said Cloudfin Raptor smashed again and again, then Carlsson had an answer in Urbis Protector. Watsfeldt, however, had an answer to the answer, turning his Raptor 4/5 with Gift of Orzhova. Carlsson's Zarichi Tiger and Debtor's Pulpit succesfully stopped Watsfeldt's offense anyway, and soon it was Carlsson's 4/4 Angel as well as an assortment of extorters that were killing Watsfeldt. When Angelic Skirmisher joined the fray on Carlsson's side, in what was already a favorable position for Carlsson, it was soon over.

But Watsfeldt had a better trump of his own, teaching his Metropolis Sprite the Way of the Thief. The 3/4 could now potentially attack for 6 unblockable damage per turn! Not satisfied with that, on his next turn, Watsfeldt went all in on the Sprite and cast a second copy of Way of the Thief before attacking for 5. Another turn later, Watsfeldt tapped his two Islands and two Dimir Guildgates and made his Metropolis Sprite attack for 9, and after one more draw step Carlsson picked up his card to move to game three

Elias Watsfeldt 1-1 Fredrik Carlsson

In the final game of the tournament, it was Carlsson who for once took the early lead, with Syndic of Tithes and Kingpin's Pet all while Watsfeldt had no play. His first was actually Call of the Nightwing on turn four, encoding the spell on the very token it had created. On his turn, Carlsson attacked regardless, then summoned Boros Reckoner extorting twice to put Watsfeldt at 8 already.

Top 5 Cards

Hate drafting, i.e. picking cards simply so that no other drafter would have them, was a key element of virtually every team's strategy this weekend. Since every player was seated between two members of the opposing team, a Dimir drafter, for example, would often pick, say, a Clan Defiance first, without any intention of using the card themselves. Sometimes, however, the less extreme cases of hate drafting led to something of a happy end. Quite a lot of players would find themselves, at the end of a draft, with the ability to play the hated cards after all. Thanks to Prophetic Prism various Alms Beasts found a home in Dimir decks, Firemane Avengers ended up in Orzhov decks, and Consuming Aberations in Simic decks. In one case, even Clan Defiance made it into a deck that contained nothing but white, black, and blue cards otherwise, but three copies of Prophetic Prism. That deck went 2-0 too!

Throughout the tournament, the Warleader proved to be a valuable finisher again and again, usually again and again in the very same turn! Often she led the charge into battle of whole armies but even all on her own Aurelia was a force to be reckoned with. All pump effects, like the ubiquitous bloodrush work amazingly well on the Angel, not to mention the battalion effects of her native Boros Legion. Ever attacked with Boros Elite, Aurelia and one other creature twice in the same turn? You should, it's healthy for you!

Not just a popular type of computer game any more, Tower Defence proved the decisive trick to power Elias Watsfeldt, Joel Larsson and Mikael Magnusson into the finals of Grand Prix Utrecht. Not once but twice Larsson deployed the powerful instant in a close race to ensure that a huge Boros attack hit a brick wall, allowing for game ending swings in the opposite direction. In a Simic deck heavy on creatures and light on tricks, it was exactly the trick to trump any kind of shenanigans from the other side of the board.

Enchant creatures used to be looked down on as the poor relation among Magic cards, for the fear of losing a creature and the enchantment on top to a single spell. Today, enchant creatures have never been better, and Way of the Thief is the latest to have shown its worth at the top level. Elias Watsfeldt unlocked a special achievement by using the enchantment to let a Metropolis Sprite do more or less the whole 20 points of damage in one of the games he played in the final draft. He dropped two copies of the enchantment on the Sprite, and then started pumping it like crazy to win in epic fashion.

Granting haste to your entire team has a long and storied history of success at the highest level in Magic, going back to cards like Fires of Yavimaya which spawned whole archetypes back in Invasion. The latest way of doing it, Hellraiser Goblin, was able to accelerate Tomas Westling's aggressive Gruul deck to breakneck speeds – just one piece of the puzzle that left him holding a winner's trophy.